A polite request 彬彬有礼的要求

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Introduction

  • The story is about a man who parked his car in the wrong place while spending his holiday in the foreign country.
  • Ok now first let’s start by looking at key words and expressions: request, park, park one’s car, traffic, ticket, Sweden, note, sign, reminder, obey.

单词和短语 Key words and expressions

  • park v. 停放（汽车）
  • traffic n. 交通
  • ticket n. 交通违规罚款单
  • note n. 便条
  • area n. 地段
  • sign n. 指示牌
  • reminder n. 提示
  • fail v. 无视，忘记
  • obey v. 服从

Questions on the text

  • What will traffic police usually do if you park your car in the wrong place?
  • What did the writer find on his car during a holiday in Sweden?
  • What does the writer think of the police’s request?

Ok, now I’m going to give three questions on the text to help you grasp the main idea of the story.

课文

If you park your car in the wrong place, a traffic policeman will soon find it. You will be very lucky if he lets you go without a ticket. However, this does not always happen. Traffic police(形式上是单数，但概念上是复数) are sometimes very polite. During a holiday in Sweden, I found this note on my car:' Sir, we welcome you to our city. This is a "No Parking" area. You will enjoy your stay here if you pay attention to our street signs. This note is only a reminder.' If you receive a request like this, you cannot fail to obey it!

翻译

一旦你把汽车停错了地方，交通警很快就会发现。如果他没给你罚单就放你走了，算你走运。然而，情况并不都是这样，交通警有时也很客气。有一次在瑞典度假，我发现我的车上有这样一个字条：“先生，欢迎您光临我们的城市。此处是‘禁止停车’区。如果您对我们街上的标牌稍加注意，您在此会过得很愉快的。谨此提请注意。”如果你收到这样的恳求，你是不会不遵照执行的！

课文详注 Further notes on the text

Conclusion (Complimentary Close)

  • Right do you think you can answer the questions now? Try with me.
  • What will traffic police usually do if you park your car in the wrong place?
    • They’ll usually give you a ticket. You will be very lucky if they let you go without a ticket.
  • What did the writer find on his car during a holiday in Sweden?
    • He found a note on his car. The note said ' Sir, we welcome you to our city. This is a "No Parking" area. You will enjoy your stay here if you pay attention to our street signs. This note is only a reminder.'
  • What does the writer think of the police’s request?
    • He thinks the request is very polite.
  • Ok, that’s it for the questions and answers. Now let’s look at language points together.
  • Get a ticket, give sb. a ticket for speeding.
  • A policeman – policemen, a policewoman – policewomen
  • Don’t forget your hat, Sir. Madam(ma’am). No smoking, No Cycling禁止骑自行车, No admittance 禁止入内.
  • Fail to do sth.: 未能做某事，忘记或疏忽做某事。He failed to come.他没能来. She cannot fail to recognize me.她不可能认不出我来. He never fails to write to his mother every week.他从来不忘记给他母亲去信。
  • Ok that’s it for the language points. Now we’ll move on to key structures and usage.
  • If引导的条件从句
  • You might find your car towed away. So the Swedish traffic police obviously had left a good impression on the writer. But you can’t always count on luck. 不能指望永远有好运气。

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